Carbon nanotubes are allotropes of carbon with a nanostructure with a length-to-diameter ratio that has a much larger length than diameter. These cylindrical carbon molecules have novel properties that make them potentially useful in many applications in nanotechnology, electronics, optics and other fields of materials science, as well as potential uses in architectural fields. They exhibit extraordinary strength and unique electrical properties, and are efficient conductors of heat. Creating nanotubes is an expensive process, and systems and methods useful in creating nanotubes are needed.